Short summary of myself: American, 42 years old, male. First time on 5:2, we’re trying a slight variation on the 5:2 diet (Tuesdays/Thursdays as fast day), with 2 fasting days, and normal days using a calorie counter to keep reasonable. So far, since February, I’m down 35+ pounds/16+ kilos pounds. I’ve noticed that my weight spikes considerably (8+ pounds/3.5 kilos over a weekend), especially during the weekends, when I tend to do more exercise (yard stuff), but watch calories less (beer and wine, more calories, perhaps 500-1000 over for a day or 2).

I notice that my weight really normalizes once the week starts again, and I usually lose the weekend weight plus a pound by the end of the week. Rationally, I’m not literally eating 8 extra pounds over the weekend, so I think it’s a matter of water retention, and maybe a possible food allergy? The reason I suspect a food allergy is that, on the fasting days, we’re usually high protein and High veggie carbs, with little to no bread, rice, pasta, etc.